Safety corridors require headlights, even in daytime

MAT-SU — Alaska State Troopers want you to know that you are required to have your headlights on at all times on two stretches of Mat-Su Valley roads.

The roads in question were designated years ago as Highway Safety Corridors. The state has four of them in all, corresponding to four of the five most dangerous stretches of road in the state. The fifth road on the list — the Palmer-Wasilla Highway — has not been designated as a safety corridor.

One corridor is along the Sterling Highway, another along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage and the other two are in the Valley — the Parks Highway from Mile 44.5 to Mile 53 and Knik-Goose Bay Road from Mile .6 to Mile 17.2. Those two Valley corridors were created in 2007 and 2009 respectively.

AST spokeswoman Megan Peters said that state law says headlights are required at night — defined as a half hour before sunset until a half hour after sunrise, or at times of low visibility, like when it’s snowing hard or foggy.

“If you can’t see 1,000 feet in front of you, you are required to have your lights on,” Peters said.

But the law also has a passage requiring headlights along stretches of road with signs posted requiring their use.

“Before now, the most known stretch of roadway posted was the Seward Highway from Anchorage on down,” she said.

The signs in the corridors started going up last month, with citations handed out soon after.

“This isn’t about writing people tickets,” Capt. Hans Brinke, commander of the troopers’ B Detachment, which includes the Valley and stretches to Glennallen, says in a press release announcing the headlight requirements. “It is about safety. Having lights on allows oncoming traffic to see your vehicle and take appropriate action. Driving with headlights on is one thing motorists can do to reduce the odds of a head-on collision.”

Peters noted that the common criticism troopers receive that they are trying to increase revenue by handing out tickets misses the mark.

“We do not get money directly from citations,” she said. “That money does not come directly to troopers, it goes to the state’s fund. There are a lot of people that always accuse us of writing tickets to get money. Troopers do not benefit from writing more tickets or less tickets.”

Likewise, she said, there is a misconception about other traffic rules. Some have questioned why troopers would be enforcing headlight rules if they don’t enforce other rules like the one that says a motorist has to pull over if he or she has five cars behind him or her. Peters said troopers do enforce that law, but it doesn’t work the way people think it does.

“If they are traveling the speed limit they don’t have to pull over for people behind them,” Peters said.

The ticket for not having your headlights on is a $60 citation, which includes a $10 surcharge. But since traffic fines are doubled in safety corridors, not having your lights on there will cost $110. Surcharges are not doubled in the corridors.

“We’re trying to educate the public so we don’t have to write those tickets,” she said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.